Nonswarming beehive



L. A. ASPINWALL.

NONSWARMING BEEHIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-15.1921.

1,41 0,444. Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET i.

L. A. ASPINWALL.

NONSWARMING BEEHIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- L5, 1921- Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

3 3HEETSSHEET 2.

//v VEIVTOR L. A. ASPI'NWALL. NO NSWARMING BEEHIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. L5, 1921.

1 ,410,4;44, Patented Mar. 21, 1922;

3 SHEETS-QH ET 3.

*1... cmmczcnmz: acpcacacacrcs UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NONSWABMING BEEI-IIVE.

Application fiIed January 15, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, linwrs AUGUSTUS Asrrx- WALL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Jackson, in the county of Jackson and State ofMichigan, have invented an Improvement in Nonswarming Beehives, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to the controlling of swarming to such an extentthat absolute prevention is accomplished. As will be seen, it isradically different from my previous inventions in this line, which gavevery good control, but under some circum- I No. 891,584, patented June23, 1908, and No.

1,198,811, patented September 19, 1916. This latter patent relates to myinvention of an auxiliary compartment in connection with the slattedframes. By making one of these compartments queenless circuit of beesthrough the hive proper was the first step resulting in a near approachto success in the perfect control of swarming, and this principle isembodied in my invention hereinafter described.

In m present invention, however, a new princip e is also involved, viz.,to control the action of the colony in reference to swarming byqueenless bees which are kept in a separate compartment known as thecontroller, in combination with a controller board at the top and rear,so as to leave room for the supers in front and also on top of the hive.

It is to be noted in this connection that with a side compartment madequeenless,

the bees refuse to store honey above or at the side of the thisconstruction for two seasons, that is two years, the'storage of honeywas little or none. Evidently the wire cloth division board allowed theodor of the queenless compartment to permeate the colonyproper, thusdestroying its energy. But, with the wire cloth above, a converse cond1tion is obtained; instead of the odor of the queenless bees per-Specification of Letters Patent.

' with and compelling a colony. After modifying Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

Serial No. 437,442.

meating the colony proper, the ascending warmth carries the queen odorabove vitalizing the que'enless bees in the controller so they do notrealize their queenless condition, while the normal vigor of the colonyproper is maintained.

It is a well known fact that qucenless bees do not swarm for the reasonthat no swarms can issue without a queen and no colonies swarm unlessthe bees act as a unitthere must be concerted action on the part of allthe bees in a colony. By my present arrangement with the use of thecontroller above separated from the main hive bya controlling board,which affords a rear entrance, thereby giving two entrances instead ofone, the manner of working is such that the bees with a few combs ofbrood placed in the controller during any period the hive becomespopulous, and made queenless thwarts the tendency to prepare forswarming.

The queen is left below and three or four empty combs are substituted totake the place of those with brood, preferably sealed brood which areplaced in the controller. The controlling board consists of a spacethree-eighths to seven-eighths inches wide queen excluding zinc below,wire cloth above and a plurality of bee escapes whereby the bees in thecontroller are constantly reinforced by both young and old bees, and inmakmg their flight the young bees return to the controller entrance, notknowing or having marked the old one, while the old bees return asusual, carrying with them the influence of the queenless bees in thecontroller.

In the drawing; I

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my in1- proved hive with device forpreventing swarming. V

Fig. 2 is the side elevation.

ig. 3 is a plan view of the controller board, looking from above, alsoshowing a sectional view in the center, and

Fig. 4: is a plan view, looking from below or the underside, showing thequeen exeluding zinc at the bottom, and the bee escapes; I V

Figure 1 shows the hive with 11 frames wedged together as in my previousinvention, without the slatted frames. This enables a hive of shorterconstructlon. Above, supers are placed crosswise of the frames, (whichis not common in arranging hive.

dicated cells,

. forward suiiiciently to increase 'ing zinc which gives the The hivewhen placed in position is supported by the steel shoes resting on theground. The steel U shaped pieces are inat 1. 2 represents front barswhich support the frame. 3 represents the lower bars which constitutesupports for the bottom board. 4t represents frames. 5 represents buttonclamps on the followboard. 6 represents the 'alighting board. 7represents the closing ieces held 1 r 3 8 represents the controller and9 the supers. 10 is a cover protecting the supers from rain and storm.11 is a cover protecting the controller. clamps holding the super sidesto the section holders 13. 14 represents a narrow board in front ofthesupers which may be moved the width of the supers. 15 is the lowerend of the frame in the controller. A wedge is shown in Fig. 2 and alsoa locker bar and the followboard. 1 i

By referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the controller board isprovided with wire 12 represents the cloth on the upper side, whichallows the warmth and queen odor of the colony to pass upward andprevents the queenless bees from deserting the hive, which they wouldotherwise do after the removal of the queen as hereinafter mentioned.

The lower side of the controller board as shown infFig. 4 is covered byqueen exclud- V bees an opportunity to pass through into the space whereentrance is provided through the bee escapes. 16 represents parts whichform a cleated framework for separating the queen excluding zinc andwirecloth and also to contain the bee escapes.

At the rear end of 17 is a thin board about it or Qt in thickness, whichforms an alighting board. 18 shows an incline on the side of piece 16,joining board 17, which consti tutes an entranceway into the controller.19 represents the wire cloth screen and 20 the queenexcluding zinc. 21represents the bee escapes, one of which shows the bottom removed andthe springs through which the bees pass into the opening above which 1sshown at 22 in top elevation. 23 represents stops on the controllerboard and when placed upon the hive rest against the a rear. end anddetermine the position of the controller. A couple of screws locatednear the front of side pieces hold the controller board in position.

.Byremovingthree or four combs of brood the several brood the buttons.5' represents t e follow- I i boards.

. ginning of enter and the greatest amount of honey,

in imate with bees, as heretofore stated, to the controller, the queenbeing left below and empty combs substituted, all disposition to swarmis prevented for a time by the loss of brood. With no queen in thecontroller, queen cells will be constructed over some of the eggs andlarvae to rear a queen. These should be removed in about ten days,leaving the controller with bees queenless but they will not desert byreason of the queen odoi from below.

ihS already stated, these queenless bees are constantly reinforced bythose from be low, both young and old, through the bee escapes-the old.ones returning to'the former entrance and so carrying the influence aqueenless colony into the colony proper.

The queenless bees being constantly reinforced by young bees from below,or hive proper, throughtlie bee-escapes, are maintained in theirstrength throughout these-ason of, honeygathering, except when allstorage room is shut off, or an insuliicient number of supers are used,so compelling the bees to deposit their honey below to the exclusion ofbrood rearing, thus reducing the number of young bees for reinforcingthose and the colony left with an insufficient numberof bees forsuccessfulwintering. 7 Under the cond1tion of a loss of brood m thecolony proper, no queen cells are started,

hence there is no tendency whatever to prepare for swarming. 1th emptycombs substituted for those placed in the controller,

eg laying is resumed and the cells are soon .23 filled with brood: Asthe honey season approaches, supers are placed above at the becloverbloom at which time they store honey. with great rapidity. The queenlessbees instead of storing honey in' the controller combs, pass it downthrough the wire cloth from mouth to mouth and store it in the supersabove the colony proper. This at first was not noticed but finding inthe midst'of the honey flow no increase of honey in the controllercombs, it was discovered by careful watchting they were passing thehoney down; This adds very much to the storage and yield of honeythrough the perfect control of swarming. 7

So perfect is the work and influence through the operation of qucenlessbees that even with supers left off no swarmingwill take place. This sochanges the action of the colony that an abundance of room hecomesunnecessary with my present system. The object of control being tosecure supers are used and tiered to the utmost extent so that thestorage of honey by the colony .is often two hundred sections per colonyduring the period of honey flow. I

The device working so perfectly leaves nothing to be done during theentire season from apple bloom until autumn except to put on supers andremove them as fast as filled, thus simplifying bee culture and avoidingall the anxiety and annoyance of swarming, which usually comes at a timewhen supers are to be placed upon the hives and necessitates theirremoval, because the colony being depopulated by swarming is not in anycondition i'or :turthe'r storage of honey.

Another advantage which is due to queen less condition in the controllerand the bees permeating the colony proper is that the temper ordisposition oi the bees is modified or changed, making them considerablymore docile. tritill further. I lind although the bees store a greaterquantity of honey, there is always ample leftin the body of the hiveproper for wintering the colony. With the old method the combs are leftalmost destitute of honey and feeding becomes necessary to supply thecolony with winter stores.

The whole tendency of the perfect control as herein. shown is to lessenthe labor in bee culture and to obtain an increased yield of honey, atthe same time leaving an abundant supply for wintering the colony, alsocontrolling the disposition of the bees.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a beehive, a main compartment, a controller compartment placedabove the main compartment and having an entrance and exit independentoi? that oi the main compartment, and a controller board placedhorizontally between the said compartments to permit the pa sage ofbees, except the queen bee and drones, from the main to the controllercompartn'ient and not in other direction.

2. In a beehive, a main compartment, a queenless controller compartmentplaced above the main compartment at the rear thereof and having anentrance and exit independentoi that of the main compartment, and acontroller board removably placed between the said main and controllercompartments to permit the passage of bees, except the queen bee anddrones, from the main to the controller compartment and not in otherdirection.

8. In a beehive, a main compartment. a controller compartment placedabove the main compartment and having an exit and entrance independentof that of the main compartment, and devices including an upper meshmember and a lower queen excluding zinc member with intermediate meansfor permitting the worker bees to pass from the main to the controllercompartments and preventing their passage in the opposite direction.

a. In a beehive, a main compartment, a controller compartment placedabove the main compartment and having an exit and entrance independentof that of the main compartment, a controller board removably placedbetween the said compartments and including an upper mesh member, alower queen excluding Zinc member, and a plurality of bee escapes placedintermediate of the mesh member and the queen bee excluder zinc.

Signed by me this 7th day of 1921.

Janu ary,

LEWIS AUGUSTUS ASPINWALL.

